Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was born in 1902 in Khomeyn, Iran. He went to different Islamic schools and wound up in Qom, Iran in 1922. He had his last name changed in 1930. Khomeini was a Shiite scholar and teacher (most people in Iran were of the Shia sect not the Sunni) and taught Islamic philosophy, law and ethics. Khomeini attained the title of "Ayatollah" (a Shiite religious leader) after many teachings and then "Grand Ayatollah." Khomeini spoke out against Western influences and Pahlavi's secular government and advocated to have more spiritual purity in Iran. He got removed from Iran and moved to Iraq where he got exiled again and then settled in France. He sent his followers recorded messages which resulted in more followers and demonstrations, strikes and civil unrest with the government and its Western ideas.